L'Avènement de Jesus dans l'Âme by S. Antoine de Padoue (review)

BOOK REVIEWS325 The Epistle to Diognetus is an arionymous letter to an unidentified person by the name of Diognetus. The author answers three questions put to him by Diognetus: 1) Why do Christians separate themselves from the pagans and Jews? 2) How do Christians live among themselves? 3) Why did Christianity come into existence at so late a date in the history of the world? Whether the questions and questioner are real or imaginary, the author presents an excellent apology for Christianity. In speaking of the excellence of the Christian life, he says "what the soul is in the body, that the Christians are in the world." According to the translator, 'Mysticism has always flourished in the Church and of her ample literature this letter is the first extra-canonical attempt to show its necessity." (p. 130) These six ancient Christian writings, translated, analyzed and explained by Father Kleist, present a view of Christianity as it existed immediately after the age of the Apostles. It is interesting to see also in these works explicit references to- basic Catholic truths, which are sometimes challenged as medieval innovations. The introductions to the individual writings by the translator, in addition to the scholarly comments in the notes, bring out the importance of these ancient documents. They serve as irrefutable historical confirmation of the indefectibility of the Catholic Church. FIRMIN M. SCHMIDT, O.F.M. CAP. Capuchin College, Washington, D.C. L'Avènement de Jesus dans l'Âme. Traduction et Adaptation de Sermons sur les Mystères de l'Enfance, par S. Antoine de Padoue, Doct. Evangélique. Edited by Rev. P. Ferdinand Coiteux, O.F.M. Preface de S.E. Mgr. l'Archevêque de Montreal. Two volumes. Montreal, Canada: Editions Franciscaines, 1948. Vol. I (one star) pp. 255; Vol. II (two stars) pp. 275. These two booklets represent radio sermons given over the Canadian Address Systems between May 6, 1947 and September 21, 1948 on the Mysteries of the Infancy of Christ as expounded by St. Anthony of Padua, and adapted by the Rev. Ferdinand Coiteux, O.F.M. of Rosemont, Canada. 326BOOK REVIEWS The first series comprises thirty addresses, divided into three categories, pertaining to the Conception of Christ; to His Infancy; and to His Circumcision ; the second series comprises twenty-one addresses divided into three other categories: the Epiphany, the Massacre of the Innocents; and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The first volume has a few introductory pages including a preface by his Excellency, the Most Rev. Joseph Charbonneau, Archbishop of Montreal; the second, with a preface by the Very Rev. Théodoric Paré, O.F.M., Definitor General, consisting of an epilogue on the "Anthonian Theory of Perfection"; and a Prayer of St. Anthony inviting Jesus to take up His abode in the souls of men. Both booklets are real treasures of Anthonian doctrine and present a veritable font of material for sermons, discourses and conferences . RAPHAEL M. HUBER, O.F.M. CONV. Catholic University, Washington, D.C. Evangelista del Pacifico: Fray Junípero Serra, Padre y Fundador de la Alta California. Textual Reproduction of the Relación histórica de la vida y apostólicas tareas del Ven. Padre Fray Junípero Serra y de las Misiones que fundó en la California Septentrional y nuevos establecimientos de Monterrey. By R.P. Fray Francisco Paltíu (first published in Mexico, 1787). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Misiones, 1944. Pp. xxviii-317. Although this new edition of the well-known work of Palóu has been a long time in reaching us, its importance is such that it merits a review, however tardy. It was most fitting that this life of the Apostle of California should be the first volume in the collection "España Misionera*. It contains more than the biography of Serra alone. It is also a history of the wonderful epoch of the missions that brought the dawn of Christianity to the State of California, where great cities now flourish on the sites of the old missions. Today, when our country takes the lead in world affairs as the champion of the principles of Western culture vivified by the Gospel, the historical facts of the...